Predictably Irrational Part 5 of 5: How to Order off a Menu
December 19, 2008 by dr. lam · Leave a Comment
Here is another study with beer. In Predictably Irrational, Ariely asked a group of individuals sitting down at a table in a bar to order from a limited list of beers: Summer Wheat Ale, Franklin Street Lager, India Pale Ale, and an Irish Stout. The first individual would call out his or her beer and then the ordering would progress around the table. At the conclusion of imbibing, the individuals would be asked to write down their rating of their beer. Interestingly, the person who asked for the beer first consistently rated his/her beer satisfaction to be the highest. The ratings would then go down proportionately to when the beer was ordered. The same experiment was tried by having individuals hand in their beer order silently without declaring their wishes aloud. Interestingly, almost every individual rated the satisfaction of their choice very highly. Also interestingly, when beers were ordered out loud, almost every person ordered a different type of beer; whereas when beers were ordered silently there was much more similarity in what was ordered. The same experiment was carried out in Hong Kong. However, in this case, when people ordered out loud, the second, third, etc. person would order most likely the same thing that the first person had ordered. As would be expected, their enjoyment was greatly less than what the first person ordered. What we learn from this experiment is that in the United States we value our maverick individualism even in spite of our best interest, and in Asia conformity is prized to a similar detriment. In summary, if you are going to order, order it first before everyone else so that you can enjoy your meal!
Sometimes in our society, we want to be different just for the sake of being different. Sometimes different is bad. Sometimes there is a reason why no one else is doing what you are doing. Sometimes different is good because the majority out there are doing things that are not good. We should fight against any of our cultural legacy (whether from the Occident or the Orient) that is our natural tendency to be “predictably irrational” so that we can make choices that are the right ones. In my field, I truly believe that too much lifting is being done for all the wrong reasons with absolutely dreadful results. As you know, I believe that the majority of docs out there who believe that lifting brows and cheeks is right are in a word wrong. However, I believe that Botox, almost despite its popularity, is so very right thing to do for long-term gains and to avoid what would otherwise be ineluctable aging. (If you don’t know what I am talking about, watch my 3 video logs: 1, 2, 3). I believe that Restylane and Perlane, which are the most popular fillers on the market in Europe and the U.S., are the most popular for a reason (which is corroborated by my clinical experience). Believe in the right thing whether it is popular or not, but don’t believe in something either because it is popular or because it is not.